Fragmentation
by Halbarad
Summary: Her objective has failed. The Integrated Data Sentience Entity has recaptured her, and her faction has decided to take a gamble: give Asakura Ryouko a measure of independence and see what she can do. Where that newfound ability to decide will take her...


Fragmentation

A tale of the multiverse of Suzumiya Haruhi

Disclaimer: The characters within are the property of Nagaru Tanigawa; I'm just making my own sketches of them.

* * *

><p>There is a sense of separation, of <em>silence<em>, that may be the most jarring thing of all - the connection to the Integrated Data Sentience Entity has been broken. It will be reestablished, but not in time for... me to prevent the interface from being deleted. Strange, to consider... myself as separate, but the nature of the interface itself and the manner in which it interacts with others forces a form of individuation, and with no active connection to the Entity it asserts itself quite strongly.

"How can this be... You truly are outstanding." As expected of the primary, really; the analytic faction spent an immense amount of resources constructing her - an interface with independent processing and analytic capabilities. If our positions were reversed, the interdictions currently in place would barely impede her ability to function at all.

Even disconnected from the Entity, as... I currently am, this interface still has enough sensory potential to confirm the countermeasures that were used to break into the sandboxed dataspace.

"...you had already planted destructive measures around long before I penetrated this place, hadn't you? No wonder you appeared so weak. It was because you'd used offensive data beforehand..."

This interface is beginning to fragment; the offensive routines Nagato planted began to activate as soon as she broke into the sandboxed environment, breaking down the physical integrity of my interface's physical shell. At this point it requires focused data manipulation just to maintain any sort of presence, and even that is a losing battle as the disassembly routines continue to reinforce one another.

"It's such a pity - in the end, I'm just a backup. I thought this would be a chance to break free of this stalemate."

With no link to the activists' processing capacity, ...I can do little more than act according to a basic ruleset - and in this case, all that is available any longer is communications and data sharing. Since ...my process was dedicated to the operation of this interface during the period where the decision to terminate was made, I lack complete insight into the analysis that determined that the target should be terminated in order to stimulate a reaction from the observation subject. When the process is recaptured after the interface's destruction, however, access to that analysis should be simple - and a high priority, as all of the contributing factors that led up to this failure will be.

The target seems to lack sufficient data to understand the current situation, and it is something of which he should be aware. It's clear that the attempt to initiate a reaction via the termination of his interface was a prospect that was both unwelcome and unexpected; the reasoning why this should be so remains beyond understanding at this time, but in theory the awareness that the potential exists for this to occur again - from any vector - should allow him to prepare in whatever ways he finds appropriate.

"I lost. It's great that you can survive - but you'd better be careful, the Integrated Data Sentience Entity isn't as united as you think! There are quite a number like me with dissenting opinions."

There are new interfaces being dispatched as we speak. As an indirect observation and support unit, this interface was designed to pick up even minor data manipulation attempts, regardless of its connection status with the Entity's core, and I can already detect the signature of another nearby - likely a replacement to take up the backup observer role, since it will be vacant quite soon.

"It's just like humans, there will be other extremists like me again." Admittedly, none of the interfaces I can currently detect are aligned with the activist faction, but it's merely a matter of time before my group manages to replace me. The replacement backup's patterns are becoming difficult to detect as more resources are required to maintain communication capabilities, but it does not seem to be connected with Nagato's analytic faction, either. A logical assumption, however, as allowing any one faction to maintain both the primary and secondary observation of the subject could easily result in skewing of the analysis of the observed data.

"And who knows? Even those who control Nagato-san might change their thinking and turn to killing you instead." Possible, but unlikely at this juncture - barring some major change in the observation dynamics. Nagato is for all intents and purposes her own faction at this point; while there is little doubt that her objectives strongly correlate with the analytics', the fact that she is capable of analyzing givens and determining an appropriate cause of action independent from her originating faction is likely to cause some degree of divergence in those objectives sooner or later.

"Before that happens, I wish you and Suzumiya-san the best of luck. Farewell!"

A final effort from the intersocial interaction rules is all that can be managed before the fragmentation of the interface is complete and it dissociates completely. With the physical threat nullified, the interdictions are lowered and the underlying process is recaptured, reintegrating into the activists' processing core.

* * *

><p>Perceptions change. To describe how would be futile; what can be sensed within the Entity's dataspace is not readily described in terms that relate to physical reality. Most of what can be detected are the shapes and sounds of computation; attempting to describe this would be as effective as trying to describe the color blue to a human born without eyes.<p>

Time, as well, has little to no meaning here. While it remains one of the defining constants of the physical reality, in this space it is no more than a variable, and as such it is difficult to determine the interval between the recovery of the process recently designated as Asakura Ryouko and the beginning of her interlocution with her faction.

**[We have completed analysis  
>of the aborted reactionstimulation/provocation]**

As a minor thread, Asakura cannot communicate directly; only simple signals can be produced to indicate the process's current state. As such, she sends a signal that the process is suspended, awaiting further input.

**[Your execution of  
>your given objective<br>was exemplary/**

**The error  
>lay within a miscalculation\\<br>The analytics' insistence  
>on non-interferencestatic observation]**

The process designated as Asakura continues to wait; while the information is useful to explain her failure, if there was no fault in her actions, there is no point in simply delivering that information to her - unless there are further instructions to be received.

**[Analysis of conflict parameters  
>has resulted in reverse engineering<br>of the analytics' independent interface]**

**[A new interface  
>is being formed\\<br>This process will again be  
>tasked with stimulatingprovoking/experimenting with both subjects/]**

Something of a surprise; given the prior failure in achieving the assigned objective, to be given another major assignment so quickly is unusual.

**[A change in objective  
>is warranted\\<br>The significance of the prior target  
>must be determined]<strong>

**[The analytics' determinations/calculations/predictions  
>are not in question\\<br>Their reasoning remains inscrutable]**

This is certainly true for the process; however, for the faction as a whole not to have made some concrete determination of why the analytics chose to intervene - it was certainly a confirmation that the destruction of the target _would_ have initiated some sort of major reaction, but apparently an undesirable one.

**[Perfect reproduction/emulation/simulacrum of  
>the independent interface<br>is not possible/  
>Direct confrontation with the primary<br>is not recommended]**

An understandable precaution. If the analytics remained capable of severing the connection between the interface and the faction, even as an independent interface like Nagato she would inevitably lose in a conflict with an interface that possessed more advanced capabilities.

**[Construction of  
>the new design<br>proceeds apace\\  
>Emulation in<br>controlled space  
>is recommended<br>for familiarization]**

The Asakura process readily saw the sense in this. With time lacking definition here, the interface would be ready when the process was prepared to use it; given that the parameters of the newly designed unit were known, however, familiarization would be useful. Since there would likely be contention with the primary again, it would be best to know the limits of the new interface before confrontation occurred.

What followed was an exhaustive battery of tests, running the interface model through every stress test and failure scenario the activist faction could anticipate; using the new capabilities, Asakura was actually able to calculate and contribute new scenarios as well, based on observations of the primary and the observation subject.

With testing and familiarization completed, though, little remained except the insertion of the interface itself. The faction, recognizing the Asakura process as an independent agent at this point, left her with final instructions:

**[Remember your origins\\  
>With independent capability<br>Your goals may diverge]**

**[The essence of our goal  
>is experimentation  
>Varied methods of interaction<br>with the target are encouraged]**

**[Your ultimate goal  
>is prompting action in<br>the observation subject/  
>The target remains unimportanttrivial/meaningless  
>aside from this goal]<strong>

The process... no, no longer just the process. The faction known as Asakura indicated its agreement, noting its detachment from the larger body of the activist faction. The physical resources dedicated to the interface were allocated to her new, separate faction, and Asakura initiated the carrier wave that would install her process in the physical interface.

* * *

><p>Ryouko took a few minutes to settle into her new interface; the familiarization exercises had gotten her used to a simulated version of the new capabilities she now had, but even with the best attempts at manipulating real matter the IDSE as a whole could muster, there was always some slight variation between simulation and reality.<p>

It was strange to be so _alone_ in her thoughts - to realize that she herself was the only one storing, analyzing, and determining courses of action based on the input she was receiving. It wasn't as though the rest of her faction wasn't there at all, but it was more of a generalized broadcast that she could focus on or ignore at her own discretion - as was her own ability to communicate back with the others.

The sensation was jarring in the extreme. As a subprocess, Ryouko hadn't exactly been a complete slave to the activists as a whole, but her voice had always been one of many - capable of assisting in calculating probable outcomes or voicing her own private opinions and concerns, but the decision was never hers to make - it always came down to the consensus of the faction as a whole.

Now, however, she was no longer fettered by the need to obtain the approval of the consensus to act. Oh, previously she'd had some minor autonomy - the faction couldn't be bothered to provide input for basic functions or minor social interactions - but any major activity would require the activists to reach some form of agreement before the plan could be implemented. Thanks to the fact that the main body of the data entity stood separate from time this usually didn't correspond to much of a delay within the bounds of time, but nevertheless it was there.

Except that now it wasn't.

Her faction had given her no direct orders, other than to continue to observe and experiment with the two observation subjects. The primary subject had been known for several years within the scope of this reality, but the secondary - the one most commonly referenced as 'Kyon' - was actually of more interest to Ryouko directly at this point. The primary target - Suzumiya Haruhi - and her abilities were of the greater interest to the data entity as a whole, but Ryouko had found it strange, the way Kyon had managed to establish some sort of bond with the primary, and the subtle ways it allowed him to influence her - sometimes even outside of his own awareness!

The dynamic between the two was something that she found fascinating - and as she'd discovered, interacting directly with the secondary was far less complicated than attempting to intervene directly with the primary. The plan she'd last executed had been one of several suggestions she'd tendered to the faction as a whole to try stimulating a reaction from Suzumiya Haruhi indirectly through actions taken directly with Kyon; while killing him would not have been her first selection - it destroyed the bond and the possibility of further experimentation with indirect stimulation - she did have to admit that it was the most likely to be successful, both in execution and in the likelihood of actually causing such a reaction.

Now, however, she had free rein to test that connection however she desired - and destructive testing, while it might be useful, was not where she intended to start.

First, however, she needed to reintegrate herself into a position to observe and act. Simple simulations of the dynamic following her previous failed attempt to terminate the target quickly indicated that there would be no simple or effective way of reinserting herself in proximity to her targets; the primary would likely be suspicious, and the secondary would actively avoid her, barring a reconfiguration of her interface's appearance - and this appearance had been specifically calculated to optimize her acceptance among humans in general, so abandoning it without a more clearly defined alternative would be less than productive. Nagato Yuki would also not be deceived by a mere appearance change, and she had been specifically instructed to avoid direct confrontation with the primary observer going forward.

However, there was an alternative - a trans-temporal insertion. Ryouko had been part of the activists' simulations of the technique prior to the appearance of the current observation targets, but Suzumiya Haruhi's appearance had put many of the IDSE's major projects on hold. She retained enough from the initial examination of the procedure to know how to actually perform such a transition, but the simulations had been halted before all of the resultant effects of such a direct manipulation of time would incur.

Still, if she was directed to experiment, why not start here? Just to be on the safe side, she sent a backup of her current process state to the activists' faction for archival; however, the processing required to complete the process necessitated shutting down her connection to her faction once the transmission was complete - and so it was that she never received the abort commands before the transition was completed, and she and her interface permanently disappeared from the space-time continuum.


End file.
